The weather in November

November started with ten days of chilly but reasonably sunny weather, but it will long be remembered for the floods during its fourth week. It may be hard to recall that until 19 November it was generally rather dry. Then the heavens opened as slow moving and intense low pressure systems arrived and brought prolonged bouts of heavy rain, especially between 20 and 27 November. Falling on already saturated ground this provoked repeated flooding.

Temperatures

The mean maximum temperature in November ranged from 11.5C at Weymouth in Dorset to 6.0C at Dalwhinnie, Inverness-shire. The Central England Temperature (CET) of 6.6C was 0.6 degrees below the average. Daytime temperatures were around 0.5 to 1.5 degrees while the nights were between average and 1 degree below. The highest individual temperature was 16.4C at Kew Gardens, London, on 13 November. For the third month in a row Braemar recorded the month's lowest temperature when the mercury dropped to -7.3C early on 29 November.

Rainfall

Averaged across England and Wales there was 134mm of rain, which is 128% of the mean. Perhaps surprisingly we only have to look back to 2009 for a wetter November, although only 20 out of the last 100 have had more rain. Scotland had 102mm, or 86% of its average, and Northern Ireland had 73mm, or 80% of average. The wettest location was Cluanie Inn, Wester Ross, where 319mm of rain fell through the month. Kinloss, Morayshire, was driest with 23mm. On 24 November Culdrose, Cornwall, had 75mm of rain, while 177mm fell on East Okement Farm near Okehampton, Devon, between 19 and 25 November.

Sunshine

England and Wales had an average of 77 hours sunshine, which is 110% of the mean, making it the sunniest November for five years. Scotland was sunnier than average as well with 69 hours, or 119% of its average, and so was Northern Ireland with 77 hours, or 127% of the average. East Malling, Kent, was the sunniest location with 91 hours of sunshine, while Kinlochewe, Wester Ross, for the third month on the trot, had the lowest total with only 38 hours.